This invention deals generally in crop balers and more specifically in a crop roll forming apparatus.
The technique of forming hay bales into cylindrical or rolled configuration has become more common as the advantages of the particular configuration have become more widely known. The chief such advantage is the self shedding characteristic of a cylinder when exposed to precipitation. This has offered the possibility of leaving such bales in the field for long periods of time and therefore eliminated the need for transporting bales to a building for storage.
There are numerous roll-bale forming machines, or round balers as they are called, both in the patent art and in the market place, and they use a variety of apparatus. Most systems to form the bale include a chamber with a hinged upper frame which operates in a clamshell type fashion to unload the finished bale and some system within the chamber to furnish cylindrical motion to the cut crop.
These motive systems tend to exist in two classes. One type has an expanding cavity in which the motive means begins in a configuration which forms a small bale, maintains compression upon it, and gradually expands to permit the bale to grow to full size. The cylindrical motion is typically imparted to the bale in these devices by a continuous belt or chain system, which permits expansion of the chamber by releasing tension on an idler on the belt or chain as it moves in the return path not in contact with the bale.
The other type of baler has a fixed chamber size with motive means located at the periphery of the chamber. In such a system the bale builds up without outside compression until it reaches its maximum size and then the compression begins. This type system forms a bale relatively loosely packed throughout its interior with a tightly wound outside "shell".
The fixed chamber balers use multiple short length belts or large metal rollers at the outside limits of the chamber to yield the cylindrical motion. While the rollers, particularly, have the advantage of low maintenance requirements and unlimited life, the bale formed by the fixed cavity is less desirable, since in any process of use, once the outer layers are removed the bale loses its configuration and self-supporting characteristic.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to furnish a round baler which uses low maintenance rollers, but forms a bale which is compressed throughout the greater part of its radius.
It is also an objective of the invention to yield a round baler with rollers as the bale motive means wherein the volume which the rollers enclose expands outward as the bale grows larger.
It is a further objective of the invention to furnish a round baler in which the axes of the cylindrical bale forming rollers shift during the formation of the bale.